Throughout history, men have attempted to create an autorotation mechanism, or a device which rotates of its own accord, but up to now, such attempts have not been successful. In one attempt, and in a Japanese Patent No. 63-282774, a magnet is levitated above a superconductive material cooled by liquid nitrogen. However, in this patent, while the magnet is free of restraint, it must have an external force applied to it in order to cause it to rotate. As such, this apparatus does not demonstrate autorotation. Additionally, an article entitled "A Double-Decker Levitation Experiment Using a Sandwich of Superconductors," by Anthony T. Jacob, Charles I. Pechmann, and Arthur B. Ellis, published in the December 1988 Journal of Chemical Education at page 1094, discloses an arrangement wherein a magnet is sandwiched between plates of superconductive materials which, when cooled by liquid nitrogen, causes the magnet and superconductive plate resting on the magnet to both be levitated. As in the Japanese patent, there is no suggestion that this arrangement is capable of autorotation.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an apparatus for demonstrating the principle of autorotation wherein a magnet levitated above superconductive materials generally rotates of its own accord without externally applied forces.